Microbial aerosols generation during various dental procedures in an university hospital

Abstract

Background: Aerosols generated during dental procedures carry potential hazardous microorganisms which may harm the patients and the health care worker attending the clinics. Though the risk of aerosol generating procedures had been already in place but has been highlighted after the pandemic of SARS-Cov-2 has setup. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the microbial profile of air in dental hospital due to aerosol generating procedures during the period of clinical activity. Methods: The air sampling was done by active and passive sampling both. Passive sampling was done by settle plate technique. Result: The significant contamination of air due to aerosol generation while the regular procedures were reported. The viable count of the bacteria present in air during clinical activity ranged from 6.8 to 28.6cfu/m2/h with a mean value of 17.8cfu/m2/h and was more than double than that of period of clinical inactivity. Their difference came out to be statically significant. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate a marked increase in air contamination due to substantial aerosol generated while performing various dental procedures specifically ultrasonic scalar and air rotor during conservative treatment and scaling procedures.

Keywords

• contamination
• aerosols
• ultrasonic scalar
• air rotor